V O L U M E
7 ,
N U M B E R
1
2 0 0 6
ULM
1931-2006: How Far We’ve Come!
75th Anniversary
Non-Traditional Students
Learning about Hurricanes
THE MAGAZINE OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA MONROE
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
T
his issue of the ULM Magazine commemorates
our 75th anniversary year—a year that marked
another important milestone for ULM.
Celebrating milestones like this one gives us opportunities for reflecting on the many accomplishments of
the past, and fuels our drive for still greater achievements in the future.
James & Deborah Cofer
There have been many events throughout the year
where we focused on the university’s history and
celebrated the impact that the university has had on the entire northeast Louisiana region.
Our 75th anniversary committee, campus community and alumni helped us celebrate by
creating and implementing a year of activities to honor our milestone. Included were new
and exciting events such as the 75th Birthday Celebration and Wine Over Water, with
traditional ones such as Convocation, Homecoming, Envision ULM, Northern Exposure
and others having special meaning in this anniversary year.
2006 will also be remembered as the year in which our goal of providing an enhanced
living and learning environment for our students was set in motion with the completion of
multiple state-of-the-art electronic classrooms, apartment-style residence halls and
improvements to the overall aesthetic appearance of the campus.
Those of us who live and work at this university know its value. We see it daily in the
dedication and commitment of our faculty and staff. We see it in the smiling faces of
enthusiastic students pursuing their education in our classrooms and participating in
student life and athletic programs. We see it in your communications with us as you
recount with fond memories the time you spent here at your university.
From its beginning in 1931, this institution has been a place for those seeking the truth
of better knowledge and a better life. As we strive to sustain the traditions and educational experiences that will benefit our students for a lifetime, we look to our alumni to make
this university a continuing force in meeting the challenges of the future.
James E. Cofer, Sr.
President
ULM
THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA MONROE
VOLUME 7, NUMBER 1 2006
Executive Editor
Don A. Skelton, Sr.
Contributors
Christi Bailey (BFA ’81)
Bart Dornier (BBA ‘85)
Claudia Evans
Laura Harris
Sara Palazzo
Molly Pealer
Diana Pinckley
Kevin Stuart
Tommy Walpole
(BA ’83, MA ’89)
Lindsey Wilkerson
Judy Willson
CONTENTS
Vo l u m e 7 , N u m b e r 1
2006
DEPARTMENTS
2
News
■ Pharmacy
■ Construction
■ Governor
■ Speakers
■ Warhawks
■ Athletics
FEATURES
SHATTERING TRADITION
8
College isn’t just for the
18-22 generation any more.
Photography
Philip Gould
Richard Lupo (BA ’87)
Bryan Johnson
54,000 STORIES
12
Design
Zehno Cross Media
Communications
Read the tales of ULM on the
occasion of its 75th anniversary.
President
James E. Cofer, Sr.
Vice President for
University Advancement
Don A. Skelton, Sr.
22
Executive Director of
Alumni Relations
Keith Brown
President, ULM
Alumni Association
Bart Dornier (BBA ’85)
The ULM Magazine is published semiannually for members of the ULM
Alumni Association and friends by
the University of Louisiana at Monroe
and the ULM Alumni Association.
Letters and comments should be sent to:
ULM Magazine
700 University Avenue
Monroe, LA 71209-2500
Phone: (318) 342-5440
Fax: (318) 342-5446
E-mail: ulmmagazine@ulm.edu
Contents © 2006 by the University
of Louisiana at Monroe and the
ULM Alumni Association. All rights
reserved. The University of Louisiana
at Monroe is a member of the
University of Louisiana System.
HURRICANE TRACKERS
18
22
32
To learn about ground
winds, Rob Howard and his
students head into the storms.
Alumni News
■ Class Notes
■ Profiles
■ ULM Facts
Point of View
O N T H E COVER
Brown Hall, the first building on campus, is shown in a circa 1938 photo, with Brown
Stadium in the background. It contrasts with the current ULM Library, which opened in1999.
Inside Back Cover: Scott Plaza, outside the ULM Library.
NEWSCAMPUS
Pharmacy is Golden
T
he College of Pharmacy at the University of
and program accreditation needs, but also will
Louisiana Monroe celebrates its golden
result in a savings of almost $12 million to the
anniversary in 2006 with several develop-
state,”said Dean F. Lamar Pritchard, comparing
ments that establish exciting future directions.
renovation cost with the cost of new construction.
In August, the university officially dedicated the
“WE HAVE A LOT OF IRONS IN THE FIRE
THAT ARE GOING TO ALLOW US
TO EXPAND OUR PROGRAMS.”
new pharmacy satellite campus at LSU Health
Sciences Center in Shreveport. The permanent
location will house 12 ULM faculty members,
classroom and laboratory space, and 25 ULM
clinical rotation students in its initial years, with
more planned in subsequent years.
First, there’s a new home. The Bienville
“We have a lot of irons in the fire that are going
Building, a three-story, 132,000-square-foot
to allow us to expand our programs,” Dean
structure near the ULM campus built four years
Pritchard said, adding that all of those initiatives
ago by State Farm Insurance and purchased at the
will help recruit more students to ULM and fight
end of 2005 for $6.2 million, is now under renova-
the pharmacist shortage in the state.
tion to house major functions of the college.
Phase One renovations, which total about $1.8
million, include remodeling the first floor and part
of the second floor for all College of Pharmacy
ULM’s College of Pharmacy is also in negotiations to open a satellite campus at LSU in Baton
Rouge.
Most of the students in the satellite campuses
administrative and faculty offices and profession-
will be those who are involved in research and
al pharmacy classes. Construction is slated to be
clinical rotations; they will continue to spend the
finished before the end of 2006. Phase Two
first years of the program in Monroe.
renovations, scheduled to begin early in 2007 at a
The ULM School of Pharmacy was founded in
cost of $2.7
1956 as the only state-supported pharmacy
million, will
program in Louisiana, and it continues to hold
provide for the
that distinction.
relocation of all
The first graduates, in 1959, received bachelor
laboratories to
of science degrees. The master of science was
Bienville.
introduced in 1966; in 1969, a Ph.D. program was
“This creative
added; and a bachelor of science program in
acquisition and
toxicology began in 1982. In 1998, a doctor of
renovation not
pharmacy degree program was approved by the
only offered an
Louisiana Board of Regents to replace the original
expedited
B.S. Pharmacy degree, in recognition of changing
solution to ULM’s
accreditation standards and the increasing
College of
complexity of the pharmacist’s role in health care.
Pharmacy facility
In June 2005, the School of Pharmacy, located
within the College of Health Sciences, became its
ULM has the only state-supported pharmacy
program in Louisiana.
2 University of Louisiana Monroe
www.ulm.edu
CAMPUSNEWS
own entity: the College of
Disease Management programs for the Louisiana
Pharmacy.
State Department of Health and Hospitals’
In addition to educating
pharmacy students, the
In a strategic plan called Vision 2010, the
College provides services to
College has announced plans to maintain its
the state’s citizens, including
national prominence and stay highly competitive
the Louisiana Drug
in pharmacy education, research and service by
Information and Poison
raising $10 million by 2010. “It’s a lofty goal—
Control Center (handling
make no mistake about it,” says Dean Pritchard,
over 85,000 calls a year), the
“but it’s no loftier than the ideals and hopes one
Louisiana Institute of
pioneering pharmacy class had in 1956.”
Toxicology, and the Drug
ULM confers more
than 75 Doctor of
Pharmacy degrees
annually.
Medicaid program.
For information about Vision 2010, contact
Outcomes and Evaluation,
Dean Pritchard at (318) 342-1600 or
Prior Authorization, and
pritchard@ulm.edu.
Campus construction update
U
LM has spent more than $70 million on
brand-new soccer complex has a state-of-the-art
construction completed, planned or under
playing surface, the softball complex boasts two
way. Among the highlights:
new buildings, Groseclose Track (at Brown
• University Commons I and II are finished,
replacing Monroe and Slater Halls. The retail
area of Commons II will include a Starbucks, the
Stadium) was resurfaced last year, and Malone
Stadium will have a new scoreboard with hi-def
video in time for the 2007 football season.
bank, SACS office, and a convenience store.
• Demolition on Lemert, Cosper, Harris, Breard,
and the old infirmary is complete, with land
being prepared for a new park and amphitheater.
• After cosmetic renovations and code upgrades,
the natatorium re-opened in the fall.
• Student Union Building renovations should be
completed early in 2007, with meeting space, a
new food court, and a ballroom. The original SUB
building will house Student Affairs staff.
• An “Intermodal Transit Facility” including a large
parking garage is planned near Nursing.
• The basketball court in Fant-Ewing Coliseum has
been repainted with the Warhawk logo, the
New residence halls feature retail areas and gorgeous bayou views.
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 3
NEWSCAMPUS
Governor Blanco lauds ULM legacy
I
n recognition of ULM’s 75th anniversary,
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco sent a
letter (right) that cites the university’s “con-
stant pursuit of excellence.”
“Today, in this extraordinary time for
Louisiana,” Gov. Blanco writes, “ULM is a
key partner in our efforts to create new
opportunities for our people and build a
future for our state that is based on
promise and possibilities....
“Your philosophy focuses on empowering individuals to better themselves
and their communities. Like the steady
flow of Bayou DeSiard, this principle
will guide the Warhawks for years to
come.”
Bringing leaders to campus
S
ome of the nation’s most prominent and
and is a popular columnist and
interesting individuals speak at ULM.
commentator.
In April, social activist Hunter “Patch”
CEO, financial journalist and former Presidential
Adams launched the College of Pharmacy’s 50-
candidate Steve Forbes will speak in Brown
year celebration. Adams, a physician, clown and
Auditorium March 20 as part of the Presidential
inspiration for a major motion picture, spoke
Lyceum Series. “Few speakers blend success,
about “The Joy of Caring” in the inaugural
passion, and notability in diverse arenas like Mr.
William M. Bourn Lecture Series. To honor ULM
Forbes,” said Rob Carroll, SGA president and a
student volunteers following Hurricanes Katrina
member of the Lyceum Series Committee.
and Rita, Adams donated his proceeds to ULM’s
Pharmacy Student Emergency
Loan Fund and the Pharmacy
Student Resource Center.
Ben Stein appeared as part
of the Presidential Lyceum
Series last December. Stein,
whose work in finance and
economics has been cited by
Nobel Prize-winner George
Akerlof, has written speeches
for Presidents Nixon and Ford
4 University of Louisiana Monroe
Steve Forbes
Patch Adams
Ben Stein
www.ulm.edu
SPORTSNEWS
Warhawks Take Flight
U
LM’s campus is abuzz about its new
mascot. Inspired by northeast Louisiana’s
The Warhawk image is
that of the red-shouldered
hawk, a fierce bird of prey,
indigenous to this area and
often seen on ULM’s
campus. The (War)hawk
symbolizes courage,
speed, power and vision.
long history of military service, by
General Claire Chennault and the Curtiss P-40
airplane used by his unit, and by the redshouldered hawks that make their home on
Bayou DeSiard, the ULM Mascot Committee
confirmed the public’s choice of the Warhawks to
represent the university.
The selection and subsequent logo design of the
Warhawks concluded a six-month process that
began with an NCAA ban from competition for
The Warhawk mascot is
Ace, a name chosen that
won over four other
finalists – Curtiss, General,
Flash and Gunner.
teams with Indian-related mascots and imagery.
President James E. Cofer, Sr. responded by convening a committee that represented all parts of the
ULM family and tasking them with the decision of
what to do next. The committee sought input from
students, alumni, faculty, staff, friends, and community members. After a month of nominations,
600 suggestions were narrowed to 12 finalists and
sent back out in the form of an open poll. After 11
days of polling, the runaway-favorite Warhawks
was adopted as the new mascot.
unique cuisine. Final designs were test-marketed
in five focus groups totaling about 80 adults and
“EVERYWHERE WE GO,
FANS STOP US TO SAY
HOW MUCH THEY LIKE THE NEW
NAME AND LOGOS.”
20 children.
Once again, there was a runaway favorite, and
the mascot committee adopted the designs as the
new imagery for the ULM Warhawks.
Bobby Staub, ULM Athletic Director, said,
“Our entire athletic department is excited about
becoming the Warhawks. The response to our
Rickabaugh Graphics, a leader in athletic design
new mascot has been overwhelmingly positive.
firms, was selected by the committee to create
Everywhere we go, our fans stop us to say how
the artwork that would represent the Warhawks.
much they like the new name and logos. Our new
To understand the culture of ULM and northeast
gear looks great and it is selling almost immedi-
Louisiana, Eric Rickabaugh interviewed ULM
ately after it hits the shelves,” he said. “And I like
constituents, took a guided tour of campus and
the story behind the Warhawk—it’s unique to ULM
the region, and sampled some of Louisiana’s
and to Monroe.”
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 5
NEWSSPORTS
Espinal Makes Spring Break an International Affair
M
ost students travel during spring break.
at the World Group level,
Senior Diana Espinal, ULM’s top singles
against the USA, Belgium, Italy,
tennis player, went international.
Spain, and Germany.
Espinal represented the Dominican Republic in
“TO WIN FOR
YOUR COUNTRY
IS LIKE NOTHING
I’VE EVER
EXPERIENCED
BEFORE”
“To win for your country is
the Federation Cup, an
like nothing I’ve ever experi-
International Tennis Federation
enced before,” said Espinal.
event, winning all of her
“I have had a lot of accomplish-
matches in Americas Zone
ments in my career, but this is
Group II competition.
the most important so far.”
“It was a joy and an honor to
In 2007 Fed Cup competition,
play for my country,” Espinal
Espinal will go against Brazil,
said. “The Federation Cup is the
Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile,
most important women’s
Colombia, and Venezuela.
Top tennis player
Diana Espinal
represented the
Dominican Republic
in Fed Cup
competition.
tournament in the world.”
Espinal’s play allowed her team to move up to
the Americas Zone Group I, with the goal to play
There Is Only One Word For It: Domination
W
ith 19 wins in 27 years in the National
Carly Clifton came to ULM solely for the water
Collegiate Water Ski Association champi-
ski team. “Most of the skiers on the team have
onships, ULM’s water ski team dominates.
known each other for many years, if not for their
The team brought home #19 in October from
the championship tournament hosted by Sacramento State University. A highlight was ULM
competes with international and professional
record-breaking jump of
skiers as the NCAA does not control the sport.
“They’re all elite skiers,”
“People from all around the world are trying to
get into the team, but it is not easy,” said skier
said coach Treina Landrum,
Thomas Degasperi, an native of Italy who holds
noting that ULM has
the European slalom record. “To be in it makes all
Regina Jaquess of
of us feel special.”
Suwanee, Georgia, ranked
6 University of Louisiana Monroe
When recruiting, Landrum looks at international
standings, world rankings, and teamwork. ULM
skier Natallia Berdnikava’s
153 feet in Women’s Jump.
ULM student Kate Adriaenson of
Belgium shows her stuff as the ULM
water ski team captured its 19th
national championship in October.
whole lives, growing up in the water ski world.”
Find more information about ULM’s
#1 among women waterski-
award-winning water ski team at
ers in the world, and
www.ulmwaterskiteam.com. To see a photo
Aleksei Zharnasek of
gallery of the team and its achievements, visit
Belarus, who is #2 in the
www.ulm.edu/universityrelations/ and click on the
world for trick skiing.
“Photo Galleries” link.
“There’s lots of prestige to
being on the team.”
www.ulm.edu
SPORTSNEWS
ULM Wins NCAA Diversity Award
U
LM recently earned the NCAA’s Diversity in
Orlando Early, men’s basketball
Athletics Award, which recognizes excel-
coach, noted, “This award speaks
lence in diversity, including:
volumes about ULM’s athletic depart-
• diversity strategy
• gender diversity of department employees
• African-American student-athlete
graduation rates
ment. We have set an example for
other universities to follow.”
ULM received high marks for
gender diversity. Four women hold
head coaching positions at ULM:
• Title IX compliance
Mona Martin (women’s basketball),
• overall excellence
Rosemary Holloway-Hill (softball), Jill
Bobby Staub, ULM athletic director, summed
up the award. “We are charged with positively
shaping young men and women to be future
Breslin (women’s tennis) and Stacy
Lamb (women’s soccer).
Winners are chosen annually by the
leaders. We teach them our values, often times
Laboratory for Diversity in Sports,
indirectly as they observe us as role models, and
housed at Texas A&M University.
that makes our commitment to diversity even
more important.”
ULM Coaches Stacy Lamb
(top, women’s soccer),
Orlando Early (bottom,
men’s basketball) and
athletic director Bobby
Staub (center) make sure
their students are winners
in academics as well as on
their teams.
ULM’s Diversity in Athletics Award plays out on the field and in the classroom,
with African-American student-athlete graduation rates above the collegiate norm.
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 7
SHATTERING TRADITION
STUDENTS WHO ARE OLDER THAN 25
NOW MAKE UP ALMOST ONE-THIRD OF THE UNDERGRADS AT ULM.
THEY’RE CHANGING THE WORLD ON CAMPUS, JUST AS THE COLLEGE WORLD IS
CHANGING THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES. IT’S A STORY OF ORGANIZATION,
PASSION, TIME MANAGEMENT—AND SUCCESS.
C
By Diana Pinckley • Photography Philip Gould
hristel Sharpe, a 38-year-old single mom whose
And there’s enormous diversity lumped into
son Marcus was beginning high school, knew
that group. Non-trads may be 25-year-old veterher life was about to change. So
ans returning from Afghanistan or
she decided to change it for her50-year-old office workers changing
NEW OLDER FACES
self. Sharpe enrolled in ULM,
careers. Some have been laid off
where she’s majoring in Spanish
and see it as an opportunity to start
Anyone who meets one of
in the College of Arts and Sciences
fresh; others are homemakers who
the following criteria is a
and getting ready to graduate in
have sent the kids off to college and
“non-trad:”
May 2007.
follow right behind them. Still oth•
Age
25
years
or
older
“I didn’t like where I saw my life
ers juggle work, family and school
• Married
headed in five years,” said Sharpe,
all at once.
• Has children who receive
who has a degree in accounting but
“For ‘non-trads’, starting or remore than half of their
hasn’t worked in the field in many
turning to higher education can be
support from the student
years. “I have only one child, and
an exciting, daunting and stressful
•
Has legal dependents,
I didn’t want to be bored, lost and
experience—all at once,” says Debother than child or spouse,
lonesome when Marcus went to
bie Dameron, ULM coordinator
that live with and receive
college.”
of commuter and non-traditional
more than half of their
She’s on top of a trend. Students
student affairs. “Families and emsupport from the student
who are 25 or older, who have chilployers may not always be sup• Is a veteran of the U.S.
dren, who are married—groups
portive. Relating to fellow students
Armed Forces
classified as adult or non-tradican be difficult. Confidence, as it
tional students—account for a
relates to schoolwork, may be slow
growing share of the total number of undergradin coming, and focusing on academics among
uates enrolled in higher education nationwide.
family, work and financial constraints sometimes
According to 2005 statistics from the American
may seem impossible. There may never seem to
Council on Education, undergraduates who are
be enough time to ‘do it all.’ Even so,” she adds,
25 or older make up 39% of the total student
“non-trads continue to be some of the highest
population. About 62% are women, 42% are
achieving students in academia.”
students of color, 69% are married and/or have
Time management is a key skill, and Sharpe’s
children, and about 29% attend public or prischedule is a dramatic illustration. She’s taking
vate four-year colleges and universities.
six courses in the fall semester—math, geogThey represent about 31% of ULM underraphy, geology, and three Spanish classes. She
graduates—or more than 2,500 people.
teaches Spanish to 10th- and 11th-graders at
8 University of Louisiana Monroe
www.ulm.edu
Christel Sharpe, seen here with the class of four-year-olds to whom she teaches Spanish,
is among the 31% of ULM students – almost 2,500 – who are classified as “non-traditional.”
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 9
Excelsior Christian Academy—and to four-yearolds. She goes to Marcus’s football games in
the fall and track meets in the spring. “I’m the
one in the stands with the book, notebook, and
possibly a tape recorder (for Spanish classes),”
she says. “Every minute counts.” She’s active
in her church, she’s served as president of the
ULM Non-Traditional Students Organization,
and when she has time,
she makes hand-crafted
Christmas tree skirts.
That’s not counting fixing breakfast and supper
daily for a hungry teenager and running three
miles most mornings on
the ULM track.
And she wouldn’t
trade a minute of it.
“I went through a divorce young and moved
back here from Dallas,”
“IF YOU ARE THINKING
Sharpe said. “The job
opportunities weren’t
ABOUT
great—I have this ac...AND IF
counting degree that I
YOU’RE
hadn’t used in years—
but I wanted to stay here
THREE DAYS IN A ROW, to raise my son.” She
knew it would be hard
IT’S PROBABLY
to return to accountSOMETHING
ing, where, she said, she
would be competing for
positions with people
much younger than she.
“So I talked to God and said ‘You need to tell
me what to do.’ Then in the middle of the night
one night, I woke up and said to myself, ‘You’ve
got to learn a foreign language.’”
When Sharpe enrolled in her first Spanish
course at ULM, she noticed that the younger
students seemed to be grasping the material more
quickly than she was. “It was almost 20 years
since I had been to college, or sat down to study,
GOING TO
SCHOOL,
THINKING
ABOUT IT
YOU NEED TO DO.”
10 University of Louisiana Monroe
or had a rigidly scheduled kind of lifestyle,”
Sharpe said.
“I remember vividly when I was in Spanish
101 and the girl next to me kept spouting stuff,
going on and on. I’m going ‘she’s brilliant.’ After
the midterm, I finally got up the nerve to ask
how she did it. She said ‘I’ve had three years of
Spanish.’ And I felt better.”
ULM has many resources for non-traditional
students, she says, but worries that many of her
colleagues may not take advantage of them.
“The university does a great deal to support
non-traditional students and their families,”
says Sharpe, listing among the advantages
scheduling classes at convenient times, particularly in the summer; tutoring; online e-mail access to instructors and key personnel; activities
for non-trads and their family members; and
flexibility of organizations to accept non-trads.
“ULM also provides insurance benefits for college students as well as their family members,”
she adds. “It was extremely helpful to me when
I went to study abroad.”
But some non-traditional students seem to feel
that they’re intruding on activities and resources
reserved for traditional students. To the immediate past president of the non-traditional students
organization on campus, that’s simply wrong.
“I’ve talked to non-trads who feel like school
is for 18-,19-, 20-year-olds—and that’s just not
true,” Sharpe says. “In tutoring sessions, in job
fairs, I look around and there just doesn’t seem
to be that many non-trads. Non-trads here are
entitled to everything—to eat in the cafeteria,
take advantage of services in the library, to attend short-courses that are so informative.”
Sharpe points out that she studies with
19- and 20-year-olds, and the results are good
grades all around.
It’s also been a benefit for her son. “Marcus
has been indoctrinated to college before he
gets there,” says his mom, who takes him to
the library with her, invites him to sit in on the
occasional class, sends him to eat in the cafete-
www.ulm.edu
ria or makes sure that he and his friends go to a
But for now, she has some advice for people over
campus activity while she studies.
25 who may be considering coming—or coming
“A lot of people here are
back—to college.
Resources
for
non-traditional
the first ones in their family
“Look at your life, and see
students at ULM
to graduate from college,”
where you are. Are you happy?
Project, flash forward five
Sharpe adds. “What better
• Commuter and non-trad student breakyears. Will you be in the same
way to assure your kids go
fasts and brown bag lunches
to college than to have them
position, or better or worse?
• Commuter coffee breaks
on campus with you? As a
I believe if you’re not moving
•
Non-Trad
Student
of
the
Month
Award
result of my going to school,
forward, you’re moving back• Non-Traditional Student Organization,
my son is looking forward
ward.
which currently has 55 members
to his freshman year in
“If you’re thinking about go• National Non-Trad Student Week
college.” Marcus hasn’t deing to school, go to the nearest
• Children’s Adventure Time, a free sercided on a school yet; seven
university and talk to some provice that provides children of non-trads
fessors, a counselor, an adviser.
colleges are currently on his
with a variety of educational activities
That’s what I did. They tell you
short-list.
while parents attend classes
the reality, and the decision is
Eventually Sharpe would
• Introduction to personal computing for
like to work for an interup to you.
non-trads
national company in a job
“If you’re thinking about it
• Non-trad student guide, an informative
three days in a row, it’s probathat will allow her to be in
publication
a Spanish-speaking country
bly
something you need to do.”
• www.ulm.edu/studentlife/commuter.html
for short or long stints.
F
or more information on
non-traditional students
and student life at ULM,
visit www.ulm.edu/studentlife
or contact Debbie Dameron
at 318-342-5232,
ddameron@ulm.edu.
Christel Sharpe in Spanish class and with her son Marcus: “The
university does a great deal to support non-traditional students.”
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 11
54,000 STORIES
“People discovered that I was the only one on campus that knew anything
about ULM’s history. I didn’t know much, but I knew more than they did,
so I got a lot of questions. And I’m still poking around,” says
unofficial university historian Dr. John Knesel (right), on
the occasion of ULM’s 75th anniversary. “There are
at least 54,000 stories here—one for every grad.”
By Diana Pinckley • Photography Philip Gould
ON
Monday, September 28, 1931, the doors of
Ouachita Parish Junior College opened. Founders
had expected 50 or so students to enroll. However,
416 showed up to meet seven faculty, two janitors
and President C.C. Colvert. Because class schedules had to be redone and more chairs ordered, the students were
sent home for a week.
With a burst of enthusiasm in the face of challenge, so began the
college that has grown into the University of Louisiana Monroe,
with an enrollment of more than 8,500 in 2006 and more than
$70 million in construction recently completed or underway.
In those earliest days, the campus was simply a large field.
“There were no sidewalks, no paved circular driveway, no grass—
only boards and dirt,” writes unofficial university historian Dr.
John Knesel (pictured at right), a biology faculty member whose
weekly 75th anniversary columns appear in the Monroe News-Star.
“Cotton stalks were still standing on campus when classes began.”
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS AT ULM
1931
1956
12 University of Louisiana Monroe
1981
2006
www.ulm.edu
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 13
Sept. 28,
1931
College opens
I RODE A BUS 100 MILES A DAY
FOR TWO YEARS. I LIVED IN EPPS.
IT COST $8 A MONTH TO RIDE THE BUS. I JUST FILLED UP
MY THUNDERBIRD FOR $43.71—IT’S ENOUGH TO MAKE
A GROWN MAN CRY…MY TIME AT NORTHEAST GAVE ME
A RUNNING START.
Oct. 10, 1931
First football win
1932
Marching Band
begins
1933
First class
graduates
1938
Brown Stadium
erected
1956
School of
Pharmacy
begins
1961
Graduate School
established
—John Blanchard ’41
There was one building—the Main or Administration Building, now called T.O. Brown Hall
in memory of the Ouachita Parish school superintendent who was instrumental in the college’s
founding. Built at a cost of $263,115, it housed
16 classrooms, a cafeteria, a 1,200-seat theatre,
and a gym whose bleachers could hold 700.
In June, 1933, when the two-year-old college
held its first commencement ceremonies and sent
135 graduates into the world, it was the thirdlargest junior college in the South. The first
graduates majored in teacher training,
pre-medicine, engineering, pre-law and
arts and sciences.
Those graduates owed gratitude to,
among others, Dr. Francis Clayton
Bennett, a Monroe physician who
ran for the state legislature in 1928
on the platform of getting a junior
college for the city. He was successful almost immediately. In 1928, the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 173—the Junior College Bill—that
allowed parishes to tax their citizens in support of
a junior college. “Monroe was the focal point of
this bill and quickly took advantage of its passage,
funding what was to become the only junior college in Louisiana at that time,” said Knesel.
That college faced amazing challenges in its
early days. Some were natural. “The fall saw temperatures above 100 degrees,” said Knesel, “and
in January came the Mississippi River flood in
1932. It flooded some of the streets and, though
it didn’t cover the whole area, every day in that
spring, people in Monroe thought the levees were
going to break.”
The biggest issue, however, was money. ULM’s
forerunner was founded on the cusp of the
Depression. “When the the Junior College bill
passed in 1928, Monroe was one of the richest
cities anywhere because of its natural gas fields,”
14 University of Louisiana Monroe
Knesel said. “The tax base was cut in half by
1932. The college administrators found that they
could pay the note on the building, and that was
about it. There was no money for operations,
estimated to be about $30,000. We almost lost
the college then.”
Options were limited; a tax increase had been
defeated. President Colvert approached LSU president James Monroe Smith with a plan to become
a two-year college within the LSU system. Smith
agreed, Gov. O.K. Allen signed off on the
plan, and the contract for “Northeast
Center of Louisiana State University”
was announced on Aug. 13, 1933.
But less than a month later, Colvert received a telegram from
Smith stating that “the contract is
canceled” because of “dissension
created in the state’s educational
system over the plan.” A week after the
dire telegram, however, the governor’s contingency fund agreed to supply funds for one year.
What happened? Knesel says the history is
unclear. Players include State Sen. James A. Noe,
who lobbied on the young college’s behalf, and
U.S. Sen. Huey Long, who was at first reluctant
to support Noe and Colvert’s efforts but relented
when he heard stories of families moving to
Ouachita Parish to attend the college. Reportedly,
Long was especially moved by the “weeping widow of Wisner” who wanted to educate her two
sons and cried when she heard the college was
closing. According to the story, Long made a call
to ensure that Ouachita Parish Junior College’s
budget be run through the LSU budget.
But further action was required. In the 1934
legislative session, Noe, a Monroe native who was
president pro-tem of the State Senate, managed to
get a bill passed to reinstate the LSU contract—in
the face of a firestorm of opposition—by choos-
www.ulm.edu
ing his times carefully (when he knew opponents
would be out of Baton Rouge) and telling his fellow senators “Huey wants this bill passed.”
Long had appeared to be in favor of the structure but didn’t openly take any sides. When he
returned from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, according to news accounts, Long asked, “What the
hell took place here last night, Jimmie?”
The bill now moved to the House of Representatives where, in spite of continued opposition,
it passed by an overwhelming majority and was
signed into law by Gov. O.K. Allen, according to
Knesel. “In the ULM Special Collections stands
the Noe desk and behind it a picture of Allen
signing Noe’s bill, Act 231. Noe said it was his
proudest political accomplishment.
“By the way,” Knesel added, “that meant from
1931 to 1939 we had three different names”—
Ouachita Parish Junior College, Northeast Center
“In addition to being a tireless communicator,
he was a builder (four buildings and a football
stadium); a leader of the faculty (‘If they haven’t
learned it, you haven’t taught it.’); a student (on
leave in 1936-37, he completed his Ph.D. at George
Peabody College); a nationally recognized leader
(elected president of the American Association of
Community and Junior Colleges); and a friend to
students (urging all students to eat in the school
cafeteria, even those who could not afford lunch,
‘Come in even if you only want a glass of ice water;
I’ll come in and eat with you.’).
Colvert was an enthusiastic letter writer, and his
missives were printed in the Pow Wow, the student
newspaper. In 2003, Knesel and Dr. Holly Casey,
a professor in ULM’s department of instructional
leadership and counseling (whose father was in
Ouachita Parish Junior College’s first graduating
class), put together a collection of Colvert’s writ-
I CAME TO THE UNIVERSITY ON A
BASKETBALL SCHOLARSHIP IN ’56-57. AND THEN IN MY
SOPHOMORE YEAR, I WAS ON THE TRACK AND
CROSS-COUNTRY TEAM (UNDER COACH GROSECLOSE).
WE HAD THREE WORLD CHAMPIONS ON OUR TEAM.
WE WERE WINNERS, AND THAT CAUSED MOST OF US TO BE
WINNERS IN LIFE. —Chuck McCullen ’62
of Louisiana State University, and Northeast
Junior College of Louisiana State University.
The survival of the young institution through
the tumultuous first years of its life, Knesel says,
was in large part due to the efforts of its president, C.C. Colvert, a man of great energy who
was an early leader in the junior college universe.
“Colvert seemed to be everywhere—writing,
speaking at high schools, broadcasting on KMLB
radio, flying himself to Baton Rouge in one of
the college’s airplanes, visiting drugstores where
he knew high school students often hung out and
asking those young people where they were going
to college and getting the names and addresses of
at least three prospective students from everyone
that he saw,” said Knesel.
www.ulm.edu
ings from 1932-43 called “I Think You Can and I
Believe You Will.” The title comes from Colvert’s
favorite closing phrase for his letters.
“C.C. Colvert was one of my two ‘holy grails’
that I looked for in ULM’s history,” said Knesel. “He left in 1944 and went to the University
of Texas, where he basically founded community college education in this country.” Knesel’s
“grail” moment came when he found tapes of
Colvert, then in his 80s, talking about the founding of Ouachita Parish Junior College as part of a
series of programs called “The Founders of Junior
College Education” organized by the University
of North Texas.
“It’s like watching your great–grandfather on
a video,” says Knesel. “It almost gives you chills
to listen to it. He talks about being in Arkansas,
University of Louisiana Monroe 15
1970
First doctoral
degrees awarded
1970
Baseball team
runnerup in
NAIA World Series
1976
first accredited
undergraduate
social work program
in Louisiana
1981
Nursing
building built
1985
Women’s
basketball team
has 30-2 record,
goes to
Final Four
1987
Division 1-AA
national football
champions
1999
University of
Louisiana at
Monroe
coming here, and starting out with ‘a half-finished
building and a half-cracked president’ whatever
that means.”
Knesel’s own odyssey into ULM’s history came,
appropriately enough, in the university’s library.
The Ferriday native received undergraduate and
master’s degrees in biology from ULM (1971 and
1974, respectively) earned his Ph.D. at Purdue
and returned to the ULM faculty in 1985. He
teaches anatomy and physiology, neurology, and
the biology of aging. He characterizes his forays
into the university’s history as “my other life.”
Rolling Stones as he writes a column about Lottie
Mae Colvert, the president’s wife, and a photo
taken when Huey Long came to a football game.
“She really hated that photo,” Knesel added. “She
thought it showed too much of her neck.”
That column will be something like his 40th of
this 75th anniversary year. They appear each Sunday in the Monroe News-Star and are archived
(www.ulm.edu/75th/story.html).
“The response has been astounding,” says Knesel. “I’ve had calls from people who went to school
here in the 1940s. I got a letter about World War
I KNEW SOME PEOPLE IN THE
AVIATION DEPARTMENT AND DECIDED TO
JOIN THE FLYING TOMAHAWKS… I, BEING COMPLETELY
UNQUALIFIED TO DO ANYTHING FLIGHT-RELATED,
COMPETED IN THE MESSAGE DROP… I HUNG OUT THE
WINDOW OF AN AIRPLANE AT 200 FEET IN THE AIR AND…
INSTEAD OF PREPARING FOR THIS NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE,
I WAS SCANNING FOR POTENTIAL BOYFRIENDS.
I HAPPENED TO “ACCIDENTALLY” BUMP INTO A HANDSOME
YOUNG PILOT NAMED MICHAEL BABCOCK…
WE WERE MARRIED ON JULY 31, 2004. —Jada Babcock ’06
One day, he remembers, he was poking around
in the university’s archive. “I was reading early
newspapers, I guess because I didn’t have much
else to do that day, and I found out I didn’t
know much about my own university.” He was
intrigued by President Colvert’s columns and
eventually joined with Casey on the collection
of Colvert writings, to benefit the Friends of the
ULM Library.
Five years ago, Knesel was designing a convocation while his colleague in the College of Health
Sciences, Dr. Paxton Oliver, was working on an
alma mater. “He started referring to me as the
university historian,” Knesel said. “People discovered that I was the only one on campus that knew
anything about ULM’s history. I didn’t know
much, but I knew more than they did, so I got a
lot of questions.
“And I’m still poking around,” he said during
an interview, taking a break from listening to the
16 University of Louisiana Monroe
II from a woman who describes being in a restaurant at the front of the campus called the College
Friend when President Roosevelt did his Dec. 8,
1941 broadcast and how fates were sealed that
day. It’s a beautiful letter.”
He particularly appreciates that the students
can actually talk to people who were present at
the creation of ULM. “If you are at a university
that’s 100 or 200 years old, you don’t get to see
the people who came here in those early years.
Here you do,” he says, adding that family members of the first graduates attended September’s
75th anniversary celebration.
With his fondness for the history of the university in the 30s and 40s, Knesel says, he’s having a bit
of a hard time moving on to subsequent decades.
The major story of the 1940s, he notes, is that
the population of the campus was almost entirely
female while the men were at war, with student
enrollment dropping from 800 to about 200.
www.ulm.edu
After the war, the university boomed with an
influx of veterans. In 1950, Northeast Junior
College became a four-year bachelor’s degreegranting entity called Northeast Louisiana State
College. The 1950s also saw a building boom,
the only public pharmacy school in Louisiana
was founded in 1956, and the campus expanded
across the bayou in 1958.
Enrollment growth and construction continued
in the 1960s, and the campus was integrated. In
the ‘70s and ‘80s, Knesel notes, the university
faced mid-year budget cuts. “It seems like we’ve
His “other life” is just another way of teaching, he believes. Knesel cites a story of a woman
who attended in 1943. “Her mother gave her $1
a week–she could buy five nickel bus tickets and
go to the College Friend and have hotdogs for a
nickel every day and still save enough to go to the
movies on the weekend. We learn that the people
who preceded us had some of the same kinds of
struggles we have, and if we look to see how they
dealt with them, they just might inspire us.”
Knesel continues his enthusiastic explorations
into ULM’s past. “The university archivist got a
DR. RICHARD CHARDKOFF’S TEACHING OF
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY
WAS AND STILL IS A TRUE INSPIRATION FOR ME …
THE WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE COUPLED WITH HIS SINCERE
ATTITUDE OF ADDRESSING ISSUES IN SUCH A WAY THAT
RESPECT FOR THE MAN AND RESPECT FOR HIS ABILITY
TO ADD AN APPRECIATION FOR CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
AND I HAVE
WAS TRULY ENLIGHTENING.
TAKEN A GREAT DEAL FROM DR. CHARDKOFF’S CLASSROOM TO
MY CLASSROOM… —Jennett Johnson-Hunter ’84
I AM A TEACHER
always scrapped for what we got. But we held our
own. Even though we didn’t have a lot of dollars,
we produced an excellent student because we had
excellent faculty.”
He sees parallels between the contemporary
campus and its earliest days—in construction
projects, in an emphasis on the latest technology
(OPJC had one of the earliest radio stations in the
area), and in pure drive. “Colvert really hustled
at tapping into all kinds of funds and getting
buildings done, just like President Cofer is doing
today,” Knesel said.
The biologist’s office reflects his passion for history, including pieces of a seat from the original
1932 theatre, rescued from a catwalk “in the very
hot and high loft of Brown Auditorium” with
the assistance of Brealon Sisson, a member of the
ULM Physical Plant staff. “There is something
magic about imagining it being there where so
many watched and spoke and listened and sang
and performed and graduated.”
www.ulm.edu
call from the physical plant, ‘We’ve got all these
boxes here, we’re going to throw them out, you
want them?’ They’re uncatalogued presidential
papers. There’s all kinds of stuff in there. It’s like
Christmas!”
There’s one other “holy grail” that he seeks—
the sheet music to the first alma mater. “In the
spring, 1932, Roger Frisbe and Bess Mary Crider
wrote the alma mater. We know there’s sheet music because it was performed at two graduations.
The band had it. The orchestra had it. We have
the words. But we know the music has to be out
there somewhere,” he says, calling on readers to
search attics and old instrument cases.
Knesel says he’s learned a lot about school spirit
and the power of tradition to drive excellence.
“It’s amazing how everything is connected to everything else,” he says. “There are at least 54,000
stories here—one for every grad. It’s like doing
genealogy on 54,000 families.”
University of Louisiana Monroe 17
Hurricane
WHENEVER A HURRICANE COMES BARRELLING
INTO THE COASTLINE, STUDENTS AND FACULTY WORKING WITH THE ULM HURRICANE EVALUATION
AT LANDFALL PROJECT FOR SCIENCE (ULM HELPS) COLLECT DATA ABOUT GROUND-LEVEL HURRICANE WINDS
THAT CAN LEAD TO SAFER BUILDINGS, BETTER PREDICTIONS OF STORM SURGES, AND AN IMPROVED
UNDERSTANDING OF ONE OF NATURE’S MOST
w
POWERFUL FORCES.
By Diana Pinckley • Photography by Philip Gould
hen a hurricane threatens, ULM atmospheric sciences faculty member Dr. Rob Howard (pictured
at right) loads up a team of five or six students,
packs their equipment in trailers, and hooks the
trailers to a Nissan Frontier and a Ford F-150.
Then, like many in Louisiana, they flee.
But there’s one big difference. Howard and
his team drive toward the storm. They predict
the site of landfall, then go there and set up
towers that measure hurricane winds, second
by second, at ground level. After their equipment is secured, they head out of harm’s way
and let the recording devices in the towers do
their work.
Howard heads the ULM Hurricane Evaluation at Landfall Project for Science. With the
apt acronym of HELPS, the project is one of
only three in the nation. Data from the ULM
team helps scientists understand how winds
affect buildings, predict storm surges better,
18 University of Louisiana Monroe
and figure out how wind patterns correlate with
rain bands, turbulence characteristics and other
weather at the height of the storm.
In short, the work of Rob Howard and his
students can keep us all safer.
Howard, an assistant professor of
atmospheric sciences in ULM’s department of
geosciences, notes that HELPS provides information that is not otherwise available.
The measurements from the ULM HELPS
team and its counterparts at Texas Tech University (where Howard earned his Ph.D.) and the
Florida Coastal Monitoring Program (a consortium of universities) are the only land-based
documentations of Hurricane Katrina’s winds.
Howard calls the results “ground-truth.”
“It has been hard to tell the actual speed of
winds in the storm because previously, everything was an estimate,” Howard says. “The
hurricane hunters fly aircraft into a storm. They
www.ulm.edu
Trackers
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 19
fly about 10,000 feet up and measure by dropping
instruments down into the storm when it’s over
the water. You can’t fly into a storm when it’s over
land – turbulence makes it too dangerous.”
Before ULM HELPS and the other programs
like it, there were virtually no reliable data about
hurricanes after landfall.
“Most of the stations that are located along
the coast are either shut off before the storm
comes so that the station will survive, or, if they
are left on, the power gets cut off to them so
they don’t take data during the storm,” Howard
explains. “If the power is still on, they may not
have instrumentation that’s rugged enough to
survive. Hurricane Katrina destroyed many
of them.”
The HELPS towers
are survivors, however.
Since 2004, they have
been deployed for five
hurricanes – Frances,
Ivan, Dennis, Katrina
and Rita. Each tower
is set up to collect data
about temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind
speed, wind direction,
precipitation and
vertical wind speed on
a datalogger inside a
computer tucked safely
inside the tower.
The program’s
equipment includes
three towers that are two meters high (about
seven feet) and one tower that is 10 meters. And
their measurements are virtually constant, unlike
those of the most well-known weather agency.
“With the National Weather service, you get
one observation an hour,” says Howard. “So
in a hurricane you get 10 data points at most.
With our equipment, you get an observation
every second.”
“We got permission
to put the TOWER on
the LEVEE – and
we lucked out in that
it was on a part of
the levee that wasn’t
destroyed,” Howard
recounts, pointing out
that the towers cost
between $7,000 and
$15,000 each.
“THE SURGE missed
it by maybe
THREE FEET.”
20 University of Louisiana Monroe
Howard has three teams, with a total of 20
students or so, to help him in his research. One
team of six or eight juniors and seniors goes
with him on the trips to set up the towers. “We
want them to be academically grounded before
they go on trips,” he explains. The forecast
team (including freshmen) stays in the weather
lab on the ULM campus, using information
from the National Hurricane Center and from
their own forecasts to provide the tower crew
with the latest details on predicted landfall.
The third team analyzes the data post-storm.
“There’s a lot of math involved,” Howard says.
“Usually that team has the people who are most
interested in research.”
In 2005, the teams were scrambled twice
—once for Katrina and once for Rita. (And
because each happened on or near a weekend,
Howard points out, members of his tower crew
didn’t have to miss many classes.)
During hurricane season, Howard keeps a
eagle eye on the tropics—and stays in close
contact with his colleagues in the other two
programs. When something looks like it might
be coming toward land, he starts putting the
equipment together and seeing which of his
students is available to go on the trip.
“We leave at the latest no more than three
days before landfall, drive down to make sure
we get there in time, and contact places on the
way down to find suitable places to put the
equipment,” Howard says. “We look for open
areas with no trees or buildings around. Sometimes they’re tricky to find.” At the same time,
the team is contacting hotels to find a safe place
to stay. “We take the equipment to the site, set
it up, get out of the way, and go back and pick
it up after the storm’s over.”
For Katrina, the team drove to Mandeville on
Friday night. Originally they planned to take
a tower to Ship Island, just off the Gulfport
shoreline, but decided that Buras would be best.
Howard grew up there, knew the area well, and
had some ideas about locations that would keep
the towers out of the storm surge.
www.ulm.edu
“We got permission to put the tower on the
levee—and we lucked out in that it was on a
part of the levee that wasn’t destroyed,” Howard recounts, pointing out that the towers cost
between $7,000 and $15,000 each. “The surge
missed it by maybe three feet, and there was
one levee breach about half a mile north of the
tower’s location.” Some places in Buras got a
25-foot storm surge, he adds.
The team spent several hours setting
up the tower and anchoring it with
rebar and, as tradition dictates, a
crowbar that originally came
from Howard’s truck during Hurricane Frances.
Deep-cycle marine
batteries power
the tower for
up to three
or four
days, allowing
it to collect more
than 300,000 datapoints.
The tower did its job, at
least until just after the eye of
the hurricane, Howard says, when
something—possibly flying debris
from a boat—knocked out its recorder.
But the tower survived. The students rode
out the storm in Pontchatoula, north of New
Orleans and west of landfall. Another tower
was erected on the Nicholls State campus in
Thibodaux. The other two towers weren’t set up,
in part because Howard was leery of risking all
the HELPS equipment.
Thanks to Howard’s Buras contacts, an employee of the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office
got the computer out of its box on the tower and
brought it to the team shortly after the storm. In
October, Howard retrieved the tower, which was
delivered to Belle Chasse.
What did ULM HELPS learn? The Buras tower
measured three-second wind gusts of
over 130 miles an hour at 7 a.m. Monday, when
Katrina crossed the coast. Barometric pressure
fell to 920.1 millibars, the third-lowest pressure
ever recorded on land during a hurricane.
www.ulm.edu
“After we made adjustments (to correlate the
two-meter measurements with the 10-meter
industry standard), our data show that Katrina
turned out to be a category three hurricane at
landfall,” Howard said.
For Rita, the tower was set up in Johnson’s
Bayou, just west of Cameron. “The last town
before Texas,” says Howard. “For Rita, the
barometric pressure was 939. One of
the towers didn’t work, but the other
worked the entire time. Its data
showed that Rita was either a
sustained category-1 or a category-2 storm.
“We want to get our
instruments where
the eyewall goes
across the
coastline,”
Howard
explains. “For
Rita we were on
the left, for Katrina
we were on the righthand side. Depending on
size of eye, it can be very tricky
to decide where to go two days
in advance. For Katrina, we had a
pretty good idea. For Rita, we went
to Texas and backtracked. As the track
shifted, we compensated.”
ULM HELPS is part of the atmospheric science program at the university. “We average
about 50 majors in the program a year,” says
Howard, who came to ULM two years ago. The
National Weather Service is a popular choice for
the program’s graduates, as is private weather
forecasting, broadcast journalism, and military
forecasting.
The ULM HELPS initiative may eventually be
able to transmit data in real time – Howard is
applying for funding – and its data will continue
to inform storm surge models, construction
codes, and the science of understanding hurricanes as we try to protect ourselves from them.
Find out more, and keep up with
Howard and his tracking work at
www.geos.ulm.edu/atmosphericscience/
University of Louisiana Monroe 21
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
Alumni Association
Welcomes Newest
Life Members
David G. Baughman
Robert S. Bennett
Herman G. Blake
Mary E. Blake
Bruce A. Boulware
John E. Broussard
David S. Burch
David A. Carter
Bart Dornier
Kay D. Dornier
Cynthia J. Fairbanks
Rebecca E. Flynn
Henry Hamner
Jennifer J. Hansford
William D. Hoover
Michael J. Luczak
Curtis E. Martin
Who’s on
campus
FACT: ULM
hosts 7,714
undergraduate
and 857 graduate
students from
44 states and
47 countries
■
Sherryl A. Morgan
Joel W. Norris
Cynthia D. Radcliff
Anthony N. “Tag” Rome
Rodger W. Ross
Dhu C. Thompson
Jerry D. Wells
1933
1968
Evelyn Albright Holloway ’33, a
member of the first graduating
class, is 93 and in good health.
Van Estes ’68 has retired and,
with his wife Thressa, plans to
travel in their new motor home
and keep his 1954 Ford Jubliee
tractor running.
1962
Guy Coates ’62 retired as chief
political writer for the
Associated Press in Baton
Rouge.
1964
Una Jones Englehart ‘64 has
completed her 39th year of
teaching algebra and prealgebra to middle school gifted
students in the Northeast
Independent School District in
San Antonio, Tex. She is trying
for 40 before she retires.
1967
Carolyn Cole Hetherwick ’67
teaches special education parttime and does student teacher
coordination at Seattle Pacific
University. She was widowed in
late 2004 after 39 years of
marriage and moved to be near
her daughter in Seattle, Wash.
1969
Donald J. Charpio ‘69, director
of the National Training Center
for the Department of Interior’s
BLM division, lives in Phoenix,
Ariz. with his wife Patricia Shaw
Charpio ‘69.
Milford Fryer ’69 was promoted
in 2005 from metro editor to
assistant managing editor of
the Baton Rouge Advocate.
1971
Thomas Smith ’71 earned a
Ph.D. in education from the
University of New Orleans in
May 2005.
1972
Maxine Savell Auger-Wise BA
’72, MEd ’77 retired from
Windham School District in
Alumni Association Officers
Regional Vice Presidents:
President:
J. B. (Bart) Dornier BBA ’85
Area 1:
President-elect:
Paul H. Wilkening BA’83, MA ‘85
Vice President:
T.J. Shuflin BS ‘75
Secretary- Treasurer:
Ronald D. (Ron) Bush BS ’89
Area 2:
Ivan Landry BS ’91
Area 3:
Philip W. (Phil) Dixon BA ’87, MA ’89
Area 3A: Laurinda Jordan Crenshaw BA ’85, MA ’87
Area 4:
Mary Hardee Barnard BS ’90
Lisa Boggs BA ’85
Area 5:
Dan W. Robertson, Jr. BBA ’89
Bobbye Fletcher Earle BS ‘61
Area 6:
Traci James Canterbury BBA ’89
Thomas H. (Tom) Deal BA ’74
W. P. (Paul) Ledford BBA ’77
Missy Freebeck Adams BA ’85
Toni Bacon BA ’94
Area 7:
Michael Smith BS ‘89
Todd Landrum BBA ’74
Area 8:
Stephanie Pittman Hall BA ‘93
Past President:
Donald (Don) K. Weems BBA ‘75, MBA ‘76
22 University of Louisiana Monroe
VACANT
www.ulm.edu
August 2005 and is now an
independent consultant for
Arbonne International Skin Care
Products. Her husband Jimmie
R. Wise BS ’74 is a technical
inspector on Army vehicle
repairs at Red River Army Depot
They live in DeKalb, Tex.
Ron LeLeux BA ’77, MA ’84 was
elected to a second term as
mayor of Sulphur. Ron and his
wife Renee LeLeux BA ’77, MA
’89 have a daughter Abby, who
is a sophomore at ULM, a
member of the ULM Dance
Team, and of Phi Mu sorority.
Gloria Futrell Bingham ’72 was
recently selected as American
Mothers Louisiana Mother of
the Year.
1975
Richard Cravatts BA ’72, MA ’73
teaches at Emerson College,
Curry College, Tufts University
and Boston University’s College
of Communications; previous
posts include BU’s School of
Management and College of
Arts and Sciences, Suffolk
University’s Sawyer School of
Management and Emerson.
Michael A. Rauer ’72 is among
20 teachers in the Washington
metropolitan area to win the
Agnes Meyer Outstanding
Teacher Award from the
Washington Post. He has taught
history at Bishop Ireton High
School in Alexandria, Va., for 10
years. He retired from the U.S.
Army after serving on active
duty from 1972-1993.
John S. Wells BBA ’72 made a
hole-in-one on the 18th hole at
Links on the Bayou in Alexandria,
a 165-yard par 3. Witnesses were
Robert G. Miller BBA ’79,
Patrick D. Ervine BA ’78, BBA
’83, and Joshua S. Wells.
1974
Henry Hamner ’74 is a senior
clinical pharmacist with Brooke
Army Medical Center at Fort Sam
Houston in San Antonio, Tex. He,
his wife Blanche and sons Travis
C., a special needs young man,
and Brian, an attorney, live in San
Antonio, Tex.
www.ulm.edu
James Carr BA ’75, MA ’78
completed certification in the
National Security Agency’s
Information Assurance
Assessment and Evaluation
Methodologies. He is contracted
by the Space and Naval Warfare
Center in Charleston as the
Working Integrated Product
Team Lead for Information
Assurance analysis for USMC
Tactical Communications
Systems and is also employed
as a facility security officer for
REMILNET LLC in Jacksonville,
Fla., where he lives with his
wife Maroulla Marangou Carr.
Dianna Dayton-Ganley BA ’75,
MEd ’83 teaches art at West
Monroe High School, where she
is a “Distinguished Alumna.”
Previously, she headed the fine
arts department at St. Frederick
High School in Monroe for 27
years.
Lenard “Chuck” Halley AA ’75,
BA ’90 was named executive
director of The Arc of Morehouse in Bastrop, a non-profit
human services agency for
people with developmental
disabilities in northeast
Louisiana. He recently worked
as a background actor in six
theatrical films and made-fortelevision movies, including
Disney’s “Glory Road,” CBS’s
“Locusts,” “Vampire Bats,”
Lifetime’s “For One Night,”
“The Last Time” and ESPN’s/
ABC’s “Ruffian.”
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
Gregory J. Smith ’75, a pharmacist, and Karen Prine Smith ’73,
a retired teacher, are the proud
parents of son Jason Smith,
who graduated from Parker
Chiropractic in Dallas; and
daughter Kristi S. Miller, who
graduated from McNeese State
University with a degree in
home design. She and her
husband David have two
children, Kyle and Emma.
1976
Scott Ellen ’76 has been
appointed to serve on the
Ouachita River Commission for
the state of Arkansas by
Governor Mike Huckabee.
Deborah Remont Myers ’76,
after 20 years in Alexandria,
moved to Lafayette as an
independent contract physician
with Women’s and Children’s
Hospital.
1977
Kay Johnson Boyd ’77 is a lease
analyst for Winchester
Production, an oil and gas
exploration company in
Shreveport.
Robert Broussard ’77 retired
from the Lake Charles Police
Department after 25 years and
now works at Calcasieu Parish
E911.
Dorinda Brunson Gifford BA ’77
was named Art Educator of the
Year by the Louisiana Art
Education Association. She
teaches art at Phoenix
Elementary School in
Alexandria, is a founding
member of the Central
Louisiana Art Education
Association and chair for LAEA’s
2006 conference.
Increasing
quality
FACT: The
average ACT
score for 2006
full-time beginning freshmen
is 21.3—the
highest ever
recorded
by ULM.
■
University of Louisiana Monroe 23
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
1978
John McKenzie ’78 has been a
family practitioner in Gilmer,
Tex., for 21 years. His wife Mary
is a nurse-practitioner in his
office. Son John graduated
from Texas A&M in 2005, and
daughter Elizabeth is a sophomore at NYU.
1980
Popular
majors
FACT: Among
the most
popular majors in
ULM’s 96 degree
programs are
aviation and
management,
biology, computer
science/information systems,
construction,
criminal justice,
education,
kinesiology,
nursing, and
pharmacy.
■
Dr. L. Stephen Ortego MS ‘80
was installed as 2006-2007
President of the Louisiana
Dental Association during its
126th House of Delegates in
Baton Rouge on March 26,
2006. He received a B.S. in
biology from Louisiana College
and a D.D.S. from the LSU
School of Dentistry. He has
been in private practice in Ball
since 1984.
1981
Michael Anthoney-Terry Harrell
’81, ’83 was director of
Louisiana’s first and only
Resource Center on Aging with
Developmental Disabilities and
recently transferred to Ruston
Developmental Center as
associate administrator. He has
been with the Louisiana
Department of Health and
Hospitals for 16 years.
Tamee Dark Kirkman ’81, ’82
was named marketplace
compliance manager for State
Farm’s Florida zone. She has
obtained the CLU, ChFC, FLMI
and AIRC designations. She and
husband Mark live in Winter
Haven, Fla.
Bob Mann (’81), former communications director for Gov.
Kathleen Blanco, has been named
Manship Chair in Mass
Communication and Senior
Fellow in the Reilly Center for
24 University of Louisiana Monroe
Media and Public Affairs at LSU.
He will teach political communication and edit the
politics@media book series for
the Reilly Center. Author of four
books on political history, he was
state director and press secretary
to U.S. Sen. John Breaux from
1987-2004, and press secretary to
U.S. Sen. Russell Long from
1985-1987. He also worked for the
Shreveport Journal, The News-Star
(Monroe) and KNOE-FM.
John Steven Roberts ’81 was
promoted to lieutenant colonel
in the Army Reserves on
November 28, 2005 and joined
the 377th Theater Support
Command in New Orleans. He
was deployed to Camp Arifjan,
Kuwait, in April 2006. He
received a master’s degree in
education leadership from
Touro University International
with a 4.0 GPA in 2005.
1982
Mathew Stevens ‘82 published
Managing a Construction Firm on Just
24 Hours a Day, a book presenting
130 best practices and dozens of
work-smart methods of successful construction contractors.
1983
Lt. Col. Jerry D. Kerby BS ’83
retired from the U.S. Air Force
on Oct. 28, 2005, after 22 years.
He and his wife LaWanna
Gilreath Kerby BA ’83 and their
two children, Greg and Melanie,
live in Niceville, Fla.
Morrie Smith McKinney ’83 is
district sales manager with
AstraZeneca, L.P., where she
leads a team of pharmaceutical
sales specialists headquartered
in Little Rock, Ark.
Kerri Rogers Phillips ’83, ’86
completed her doctorate in
speech-language pathology in
2003. An assistant professor at
Louisiana Tech University, she
is past president of the
Louisiana Speech-LanguageHearing Association and past
chair of the Louisiana Board of
Examiners for SpeechLanguage Pathology and
Audiology.
Terri Westbrook Whiddon ’83,
’85 is a teacher at Hornbeck
High School in Hornbeck.
Donese Worden ’83 is a naturopathic physician licensed as a
primary care doctor, specializing
in unique medical therapies from
Europe and around the world.
1984
David T. Frazier ’84 works for the
Arkansas Department of
Environmental Quality and is registered as a professional geologist through the Association of
State Boards of Geologists. He
and his wife Helen live in North
Little Rock, Ark.
1985
Bridgette Crotwell Pullis ’85
received a Ph.D. in health
studies from Texas Woman’s
University in Denton in May
and is an assistant professor of
nursing at Houston Baptist
University. Her husband Robert
Pullis BA ’85, MEd ’86 practices
law in the Houston area. They
live in Missouri City, a Houston
suburb.
1986
Don A. Durr, Jr. ’86 started an
engineering firm two years ago.
He and his wife, Michelle Bihm
Durr ’86, who helps in the
business, have three daughters
Emily, 15; Laura, 13; and
Caroline, 6.
www.ulm.edu
Bart Dornier (B.B.A. ’85), pictured far right,
with his family at their home in Metairie, Louisiana
Lessons from a Hurricane
by Bart Dornier
As an insurance agent, I have worked some of
the biggest natural disasters in State Farm’s
history. I thought I knew what to expect from a
hurricane, but I was mistaken.
I had been out of the country just before
Hurricane Katrina, so I only had to cope with a
cancelled flight instead of the evacuation ordeal
that my wife and daughter endured. I rescheduled and forgot about the storm, thinking we
would leave our home for three days and then
return.
On Tuesday morning, I awoke to TV images of
flooding and devastation. I sat in shock as the
helicopter flew over Metairie, as I recognized
landmarks near my flooded office.
My wife Kay (B.B.A. ‘84) and I made it back to
Metairie on the first Saturday after the storm to
find six-to-eight inches of water in my office—
enough to ruin most of the furniture and many
business records. A low-flying Army helicopter
spotted us as we were loading stuff from the
building into the car. Thinking we could be
1987
Patricia Beavers ’87 is a controller with the Confederated Tribes of
Siletz, Oregon. Previously she was
director of finance and administration with the Technology Access
Center in Nashville, Tenn. Her son
Ensign Shane L. Beavers, a 2004
graduate of the U.S. Naval
Academy, is due to complete
nuclear power training school and
will be stationed in San Diego, Cal.
Gene A. Memoli Jr., R.Ph.,
FASCP ’87 attended the Health
Care Reform Symposium
hosted by President George W.
Bush in Bridgeport, Conn. He is
looters, the helicopter made two passes at low
altitude. To reassure them, I placed one of my
State Farm Disaster Team Member signs on the
hood of the car. Seeing the Army fly over made
us feel much safer.
As soon as I saw our home, I knew we were in
trouble. The hurricane had peeled off the entire
roof. Most of the ceilings had fallen down and
water had damaged everything. The more we
looked, the less we realized we would be able to
save. We took what we could and returned to
Shreveport.
Much of the last year has been a blur. My
office has been repaired and we moved back into
our house on September 24, 2006, although a lot
of work on the house remains.
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
I have talked to friends in other states, and
they think we have either recovered from
Katrina, or we are still under water. Neither is
true. The TV images do not represent the real
extent of the damage and devastation.
From Hurricane Katrina, we learned what is
really important: we are healthy and safe. The
property we lost can be rebuilt, or we can learn
to live without it. The real gift is in giving. We try
every day to help those around us. We will
survive this – and so will New Orleans.
Bart Dornier (B.B.A. ’85), Metairie, is the
current President of the ULM Alumni
Association.
a past president of the
Connecticut chapter of the
American Society of Consultant
Pharmacists and practices in
long-term care pharmacy in
Connecticut. His wife Peggy
Memoli ’86 is a clinical consultant pharmacist.
Darrell Newman ’87 has a
daughter, Kristin Nicole Newman,
who is a freshman at ULM. Kristin
is on the 2006 PREP staff,
president of the freshman class
and a member of the SGA. She
also was on the 2006
Homecoming Court as a
Freshman Maid.
Engaged
faculty
■ FACT:
Our 390
faculty teach in
an average class
size of 24. The
student-faculty
ratio is 18:1.
1988
Becky Tatum BA ’88 is regional
database manager at the Isle of
Capri corporate offices in Biloxi,
Miss. Previously she was at the
Isle of Capri in Bossier City. She
began her casino career in 1998
with Harrah’s. She and husband
Jodie and daughters Marilou, 9,
and Abigail, 4, live in Ocean
Springs, Miss.
1989
Scott Finlay BBA ’89, MM ’94
has joined the University of
Colorado Foundation as
associate director of developContinued on page 29
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe 25
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
Marriages
Fallon Atkins ’05 to high school sweetheart
Myron B. Hawthorne, Feb. 18, 2006.
Allen Beckendorff, Oct. 22, 2005, at St. John’s
Episcopal Church in Sealy, Tex.
John Balance ’73, in his second term as Bienville
Parish sheriff, to Sherri Woodall, a registered
nurse at Highland Hospital in Shreveport.
Jenny Catherine Hopkins ’97, a clinical assistant
at Norris/Pulitzer Orthodontics, to B.J. Pankey,
Oct. 29, 2005.
Christopher Barron ’99 to Christine Hazard ’94,
July 6, 2005, in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Lacy Nicole Lambert BME ’05 to Neal McKaskle
Sanderson BA ’02, June 4, 2005, at the Louisiana
Baptist Children’s Home chapel. They live in
Calhoun.
Tara Jeanne Bouchie ’05 to Sean McConathy ’05,
June 2005. They met their sophomore year at
ULM. They work in Houston, Tex.
Rachael Schlottman Brignac ’72, ’92 to Frankie D.
Brignac of New Orleans, Nov. 26, 2005. She has
daughter, Jodie, 29, and a son, Dale, 28.
Passing
the test
■ FACT:
Nearly
every ULM
student who
takes a licensure
exam passes
it–in business,
health sciences
or education.
Dwayne Chatelain ’96 to Aimee Adams, July 1,
2006, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Morgan
City and honeymooned in Playa del Carmen,
Mexico. They live in Zachary.
LaTanya Denise Clower BBA ’04 to Kristopher
Scott Harper BBA ’04, Oct. 16, 2005, at the
Baptist Collegiate Ministry chapel on the ULM
campus.
Marketha Shantel Cole BBA ’00, an assistant to
the CFO at Omni American Bank, to Smith
Washington III, October 2003. They live in Fort
Worth, Tex.
Amy Cummins ’04 to Patrick Pyle ’04, March 4,
2006. They live in Kingwood,Tex.
Cheryl Coleman DeVille ’96 to Bill Meade ‘93,
December 2005.
Amy Michele Dietz ’03 to Bobby Carro ’03, July
2004. They have Kayden Robert, born in
November 2003, and Emma Grace, born in
May 2005.
Amy Katherine Dougherty BA ’03, to Brian
Thomas Robinson MBA ’03, Nov. 26, 2005, at
First Presbyterian Church in Monroe. Amy is
employed in the Office of Recruitment and
Admissions at ULM and Brian is employed with
Marcus, Robinson, and Hassell, a CPA firm. They
live in Monroe.
Carolyn Amanda Garrett BS ’02 to Todd Jones,
Dec. 18, 2004. They live in West Monroe.
Carla Lynn Hannah BS ’86, a 13-year employee of
Fort Bend County in Rosenberg, Tex., to Jimmy
26 University of Louisiana Monroe
Lara Leigh Lewis BGS ’02 to Roddie Darrell
Meggs at First Baptist Church in West Monroe.
They live in Monroe.
Vakendall Long BA ’04, a case manager for a
foster care agency in Jackson, Tenn., to Katrina
Stewart, June 24, 2006.
Theresa Lanee May BA ’05 to Robert Nathan
Cotton Jr., Feb. 18, 2006 at Grace Baptist Church
in Grayson. The couple lives in Columbia.
Michael Wayne Mercer ’96 to Jan Grable Holton,
July 9, 2005.
Ashley Elizabeth Morgan ’01, a nursing home
occupational therapy assistant, to Corey J.
Bertrand, April 2, 2005. They live in Crowley.
Samuel Max Newman BS ’03 to Amanda Elise
Waller, Oct. 22, 2005.
Misty Lynn Newton BS ’05 to Preston Brock
Croft, Dec. 10, 2005, at Dunn Baptist Church.
They live in Delhi.
Jamie Frances Perry BS ’02 to Capt. David
Cleveland Joseph, Feb. 18, 2006, at Grace
Episcopal Church in Monroe. They live in
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Damon Christopher Pichoff BA ’05 to Lacey
Brooke Miller, Jan. 7, 2006, at Alpine First Baptist
Church in Pineville. They live in Tallahassee, Fla.
David Pickett ’05, a registered nurse at Riverside
Medical Center in Franklinton, to Kayla Miller.
They live in Amite.
Ricky Pratt ’96 to Erin Trahan, May 6, 2006.
James David Reneau BGS ’02 to Jill Eloise
Vaughan, Jan. 28, 2006, at Lea Joyner Memorial
United Methodist Church in Monroe. The couple
lives in Shreveport.
www.ulm.edu
Jennifer Bailey Telano ’00 to Danny Heath Mills
’97, Dec. 10, 2005, on Beech Mountain at the
Kennedy Chalet in Banner Elk, N.C.
Chuck Thomas ’92 to Christi Fitzgerald, May 27,
2006. They live in Pollock.
Rhonda Travis ’98 to Robert Winslow, Feb. 22,
2006, in Hawaii on the island of Kauai.
Chad Whitehead ’99 to Marti Jo Selby of
Jonesboro, Ark., March 25, 2006.
Avery Grace Gallucci, June 5, 2006, to Giuseppe
“Joe” Gallucci ’96 and wife Angela Burtchell.
They married June 2, 2001.
Joseph Charles “Charlie” Giglio, May 3, 2005, to
Amy Petrus Giglio ’91 and husband Joe. They
married March 22, 2003.
Births
Ryan Adams, Oct. 20, 2005, to Missy Freebeck
Adams BA ‘85, MA ’87 and husband Richard.
Mary Elizabeth Allen, Jan. 12, 2006, to Ashley
Rugg Allen ’02 and David W. Allen ‘94.
Aden Sue Antley, Sept. 21, 2005, to Keena Babb
Antley ’98 and husband Robert. They live in
Monroe.
Malajah B. Hawthorne to Fallon Atkins ’05 and
husband Myron.
Matthew J. Badeaux, Nov. 8, 2000, to Curtis
Badeaux ’93 and wife Melissa.
Alexis Camille Baham, Feb. 24, 2005, to Melvin J.
Baham Jr. BS ’90 and Andrea Daniel Baham BS
’89. They live in Baton Rouge.
Loy Baird ’61 and wife Betty have grandchildren:
Maxwell, 6, Cari, 4, and Alison, 1. They
are the children of their daughter Dana and
husband Steven.
Shanda Boyles ‘03 has children Elle’, 2, and
Landon, 1.
Ella Lindsey Brunson, May 31, 2005, to John
Brunson BBA ’90 and his wife Angie. Ella joins
brother, Jack, 7.
1
Easton Alan Bruscato, Aug. 5, 2005, to Lori
Tande Bruscato ’02 and Scott Bruscato BS ’92,
MEd ’94.
Caleb Lee Cole, Nov. 26, 2002, and Micah Caden
Cole, Nov. 15, 2005, to Chassidy Morace Cole ’96
and Phillip Jason Cole ’94. They married January
1999.
Haylee Grace Cox, Oct. 3, 2005, to Kristina Dove
Cox ’04 and husband Curtis.
2
Addison Lee Creekmore, July 27, 2005, to
Courtney Elizabeth Creekmore ’06.
Grandparents, Skeet Creekmore, ULM faculty
member, and Nancy Creekmore, and uncle Bryan
Joseph Creekmore, who attends ULM, welcomed
the youngest ULM Athletic Foundation member.
All the Creekmores are members of the ULM
Athletic Foundation.
Catherine Delaney Dupree, April 30, 2005, to
Jennifer Elliott Dupree ’95 and Chad Dupree ‘93.
She joins Caroline Elizabeth, 5.
Max McLain Dykes, July 7, 2005, to Jessica
Buntyn Dykes ’91 and husband Bill. He has
brothers Jack Alexander, 3, and Sam McGuire, 2.
3 Maxwell Andrew Frederick, March 9, 2006, to
Megan Causey Frederick ’96 and Ethan Frederick
‘98. Brother Miller Alan Frederick is 3.
Studentcentered
■ FACT:
In
the Emerging
Scholars program, over 100
undergraduate
researchers and
their faculty
mentors conduct
experiments,
test theories,
and contribute
new knowledge.
Monica Lucas Frost ’00 and husband Ken have
two boys Trey, 2, and Tristan, 11 months.
1
www.ulm.edu
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
2
3
University of Louisiana Monroe 27
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
Births Continued
Emma Grace LaBorde, Nov. 17, 2005, to Missy
Clark LaBorde BA ’89, MA ’90 and Robbie
LaBorde BS ’91. She joins Matthew, 12, and
Sarah Catherine, 8.
4
Katelyn Elizabeth Mardis, November 6, 2005,
to Charles Michael Mardis ’03 and wife Elizabeth.
Mia Claire Tillman, Feb. 26, 2006, to Jody
Maynard ’05 and husband Ty.
Healthy
numbers
■ FACT:
ULM
produces
more than
350 healthsciences
graduates
annually.
Nolan Bryce Rhew, Nov. 3, 2004, to Dara
Schoen Rhew ’03 and husband Randy.
Grandparents are Stan Schoen ’71 and
Gloria ‘Lynn’ Clark Schoen ‘71.
Mia Catherine Schramm, Sept. 3, 2005,
to Melissa Phillips Schramm ‘00 and
Nick Schramm ’01.
Karson Laine Perry McKoin, May 24, 2005, to Kris
McKoin ’99 and wife Ginger.
Zachary Cole Simpson, Oct. 17, 2005, to Tania
Schott Simpson BA ’94 and Charlie L. Simpson
BGS ’98. He joins brother Chandler Kade, 4. They
live in West Monroe.
Ainslee Elizabeth Newell, July 7, 2005, to Kristi
Vines Newell ’95 and husband Chad.
Mara Eileen Singley, March 11, 2006, to Patty
Weber Singley ’01 and Michael “Mike” Singley ’79.
Kate Isabelle Newman, June 17, 2005, to Patty
Orillac Newman BA ’98 and Jake Newman BS
’98. She joins brother Jack Thomas, born Aug.
16, 2002. They live in Austin, Tex.
Owen Matthew Spitale, March 22, 2006, to Rachel
Fedele Spitale ’04 and Anthony Matthew Spitale
’05. They live in Denham Springs.
Jacob Ossman, June 29, 2005, to Jason
Ossman ’05 and wife Angela.
5
Maggie Maureen Quine, Feb. 1, 2006, to
Jennifer Feltman Quine BA ’96, MEd ’01 and
husband John.
6
Ezra Lee Tarver, Oct. 14, 2004, to Josh Tarver
’03 and Erin Helmer Tarver ’03.
Nathan Alexander, Jan. 5, 2006, to Jennifer
Mercon Travis ‘01 and Brian Travis ’99. He joins
brother Austin, born Dec. 26, 2002.
7
Tyler Cole Reppond, Sept. 14, 2005, to Donna
Cranford Reppond ’94 and husband John.
Karson Luke Trichel, Oct. 24, 2005, to Susan
Whitehead Trichel BS ’91 and husband Toby. He
joins brothers Cole, 7, and Kade, 4.
Morgan Reese Rodriguez, Dec. 5, 2004, to
Jarett Rodriguez ’97 and Sherry Seamon
Rodriguez ’98.
John Minor Wade Jr., July 10, 2003, and Aaron
Anderson Wade, March 28, 2005, to Traci Bonin
Wade ’97 and Johnny Wade ’96.
John-Thomas Roussell, July 16, 2004, to
Tim Roussell BS ’96 and Martha Vandersypen
Roussell BS ‘97.
Anna Marie Williams, Jan. 10, 2005, to Bradley
Williams ’04 and Bridget Boudreaux Williams
’98. She joins sister Kalee, born March 14, 2000.
Madden Sawrie, June 9, 2006, to Lesley Walter
Sawrie BS ’01 and Matt Sawrie BBA ‘98.
Jamie Simone Harris, Jan. 26, 2004, to
Cassandra Johnson Williams ’90. She joins
brother Kevin Charles Williams, 11.
4
28 University of Louisiana Monroe
5
6
7
www.ulm.edu
Continued from page 25
ment at the College of Music.
He was previously executive
director of the Colorado Youth
Symphony Orchestra at the
University of Denver.
Missy Clark LaBorde BA ’89, MA
’90 and Robbie LaBorde BS ’91
live in Alexandria where Robbie
works as general manager of
business development at
CLECO and Missy is an assistant professor of communication studies at LSU-Alexandria.
They are active in the Cenla
Chapter of the ULM Alumni
Association.
Rob Nash ’89, on active duty
with the U.S. Army was deployed to the Philippines with
the Joint Special Operations
Task Force-Philippines in
support of Operation Enduring
Freedom; was on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast with the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
during “Task Force Hope” in
support of Hurricane Katrina
clean-up operations, and has
been deployed to Iraq with the
412th Engineer Command in
support of Operation Iraqi
Freedom.
1990
John Brunson BBA ’90 is a
financial analyst with Blue
Cross/Blue Shield of Mississippi
in Jackson. The family lives in
Richland, Miss.
Matt Coleman ’90 was recently
promoted to managing editor at
the Daily Reader in
Brookhaven, Miss. He oversees
the newsroom and the day-today editorial operations.
Larry McDonald ‘90 has been
regional manager for the
southeast United States at
Jacobsen/A Textron Company
www.ulm.edu
since leaving the ULM athletic
department in 2002. His company specializes in sports turf
and golf course groundscare
equipment and provides over
70 percent of the PGA’s tournament equipment.
1991
Stokey Bourque ’91 was
promoted to victim witness
coordinator for the District
Attorney General for the 21st
Judicial District. He and his wife
Stephanie Maxey Bourque ‘93
live in Franklin, Tenn.
Amy Petrus Giglio ’91 has been
on the development staff at
Centenary College since 2001.
1993
Kerry Pope Hicks ’93 received
the MSN, Family Nurse
Practitioner, from the University
of Mississippi Medical Center in
Jackson in May 2005. Certified
through the Academy of Nurse
Practitioners, she works in a
family medicine clinic in
Vicksburg, Miss.
Charles Jaubert BGS ’93 has
been promoted to assistant
principal at Vermilion Catholic
High School in Abbeville.
Corey Perkins ’93 is the wide
receivers coach and head girls
track coach at Beaumont
Central High School in Texas.
Scott A. Stevens ‘93 represented Canada at the World Masters
Indoor Track and Field
Championships held in Linz,
Austria. He placed 7th in the
half-marathon (men 35-39), a
13-mile race on a course along
the Danube River, and won the
silver in the 3,000-meter race
(men 35-39). Scott is the staff
kinesiologist at the Hotel Dieu
Shaver Hospital in Ontario.
Billy Williams ’93 received an
M.A. in Christian education
from Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary on May
5, 2006, and is minister of
music/education at Central
Baptist Church in Pine Bluff,
Ark. He and wife Leslie Smith
Williams ‘93 live in Hall, Ark.
1994
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
Susanne Gordon Arnett ‘94
joined The Cirlot Agency, a
corporate communications firm
in Jackson, Miss., as public
relations manager. She previously was an award-winning
managing editor, executive
producer and news producer at
TV stations in Jackson, Tyler,
Texas, and Monroe. She,
husband Sam Arnett BBA ’93
and son Sam Jr., 2, live in
Madison, Miss.
Todd Enloe ’94, a process
technician at Chemtura
Chemical Corporation in Taft,
and wife Leslie Ledet Enloe ‘94
a pharmacist for Wal-Mart, live
in Raceland with children Julia
Elizabeth and Jenna Elizabeth.
1996
Candace DeLess Jeffress MEd
’96 retired from teaching in May
2005 after 28 years. She and
husband Jimmy Jeffress MME
’84 live in Crossett, Ark., where
she serves on the Crossett City
Council and enjoys oil painting
and playing with her grandchildren.
Brainy
spaces
■ FACT:
ULM
has 58 “smart
classrooms,”
equipped with
computers, DVD
and VCR players,
sound systems,
Internet connections, and document cameras.
Rickey Pratt ‘96 graduated from
medical school May 20 and
began a pediatrics residency at
Children’s Hospital in New
Orleans July 1.
Mary Shockley ’96 is special
education teacher for the
emotionally disturbed at
Eastlake High School in
University of Louisiana Monroe 29
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
Washington State and recently
opened her equine-assisted
therapy practice.
Amy McVoy Smith ’96 is a
graduate student at ULM in
communicative disorders. She
has a 3-year-old son, David.
1997
Alejandra Albritton Blanco ’97
teaches a third-grade class, 100
percent of whom passed the
Texas TAKS reading test. Five
received commended status – a
hard rating to attain, especially
in a bilingual classroom.
Building
ULM
■ FACT:
More
than $70 million
has been budgeted or spent
for construction
and renovation on campus
since 2002.
Kevin Thomas Busch ’97
became head football coach at
Tulsa Hale High School on Aug.
5, 2005, after being coach (and
discipline dean) at Palm Beach
Central and Royal Palm Beach
high schools. He and wife Tracy
Lee, a sales consultant for an
educational software company,
married Dec. 31, 2003.
Connie Oubre ’97 is evening
program coordinator at Hamilton
College in Lincoln, Neb., where
she also teaches criminal justice
classes and serves as advisor to
the Student Senate.
Joseph Renaud ’97, ’00, a real
estate investor with property
throughout the South, is
director of operations for a real
estate firm in Westchester, NY.
He was previously a lending
officer at North Fork Bank in
New York and managed a real
estate investment trust for the
Related Companies/CharterMac.
Jarett Rodriguez ’97 is chief
operating officer and co-owner
of Technically Advanced, Inc.
and Sherry Seamon Rodriguez
’98 is a nurse at Baylor’s Heart
and Vascular Hospital. They live
in Plano, Tex.
30 University of Louisiana Monroe
1998
Rebecca Williams Baldwin BS
’98, MS ’00 received a Ph.D. in
entomology in 2005 from the
University of Florida. As
assistant director of the school’s
IPM program, she won the
NISUS scholarship for professional women in pest management at the National Pest
Management Association
meeting and placed first in a
student paper competition of
the Entomological Society of
America.
Nancy Lee Garner ’98 graduated from the Institute for
Organization Management, a
four-year professional development program of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, held at
the University of Georgia.
Geoffrey Gaskin ’98 and wife
Ginger Wilkinson Gaskin ’98
moved from New Orleans in the
wake of the hurricanes to
Newnan, Georgia. Geoffrey is
now at Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport.
Ginger continues to work with
Cummins in its Atlanta branch.
Renee Hebert BA ’98, MEd, ’00
is the director of the professional leadership program
within the College of Business
Administration at the University
of North Texas after previously
serving as assistant director of
Student Life.
1999
James Hatcher ’99 is staff
engineer at BidPay, Inc., a
payment engine for online
auctions and a wholly owned
subsidiary of CyberSource.
Chad Whitehead ’99 was
promoted in 2005 to director of
quality and risk management for
HealthSouth Rehabilitation
Hospital of Jonesboro, Ark.
2000
Gabe Crawford BS ’00 is project
manager for the Northwest
Arkansas Division of May
Construction; his wife Katie
Pritchett Crawford BBA ‘00 is VP
of lending for ANB Financial,
N.A., both in Bentonville, Ark.
Jeffrey Ratcliff ’00 is project
administrator at the Beck Group
in Dallas, Tex.
Jada Bown Swanson ’00 teaches
voice and music at Colorado
Christian University. She visited
South Africa and England teaching and speaking at a Creative and
Performance Arts Conference in
November 2006.
2001
Tracy Andrus MA ‘01 earned a
Ph.D. from Prairie View A&M
University in May 2005. He is an
assistant professor of criminal
justice and director of the Lee P.
Brown Criminal Justice Institute
at Wiley College in Marshall,
Tex. He is also working on
developing an “enviroecogenetics theory,” an explanation of
why people commit crimes. He
also presented research at
Oxford University in England.
Jerry Chen ’01 is the deputy
president for the Medical
Committee of Chinese Genetic
Engineering and the deputy
general manager/senior medical
director for Shanghai Health Care
Bio-Engineering Co., Ltd.
Brian Travis ’99 has started a
new job with Texas Oncology in
Denton, Tex.
www.ulm.edu
2003
2004
Andrew “Andy” Chance ’03
joined the Mesquite Police
Department and is attending the
Police Academy in Arlington, Tex.,
with aspirations of becoming an
investigator. His wife Becky is a
construction loan officer with
Countrywide Mortgage in Plano,
Tex.
Sunny Brockner ’04 is the
business development coordinator/customer relations
manager at Robinson Brothers
Ford in Baton Rouge.
Louise Valdez Crabtree ’03 has
been transferred to Empire Bank
as a loan assistant.
Timothy Eads ’03 was promoted
to the loss mitigation department at Centex Home Equity in
Lewisville, Tex. He lives in
Flower Mound, Tex.
Josh Tarver ‘03 has started his
own construction company. His
wife Erin Helmer Tarver ’03 is a
licensed realtor and full-time
mother to Ezra Lee Tarver. They
live in Fayetteville, Ark.
Tamieka Simon ’04, who has
been with the Volunteers of
America-Texas in Fort Worth for
two years, was promoted to
facility case manager.
Bradley Williams ’04, a field
engineer for Hensel Phelps
Construction Company, and
Bridget Boudreaux Williams
’98, manager of Coldwell
Banker Mortgage, live in the
suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Sharonda Williams ’04 is a
laboratory technician with the
Harris County Medical Examiner’s
Office in Houston, Tex.
2005
Christin Bailey ’05 is a registered nurse at North Carolina’s
Baptist Medical Center-Brenner
Children’s Hospital.
Ritasha Kari Lewis ’05 is in a
dual masters program in social
work and child development at
Loyola University in Chicago, Ill.
Jody Maynard ’05 is a human
resources assistant at Faulk &
Foster in Monroe.
Jason Ossman ’05 is a financial
consultant with A.G. Edwards in
Monroe.
Jamie Whitley BA ’05, a foster
care worker with Beauregard
Parish Office of Community
Services, lives in Oakdale.
2006
Jennifer Thrower Gunter ‘06
has been accepted to the North
Texas Veterans Affairs
Healthcare Center Pharmacy
Practice Residency Program in
Dallas, Tex. She and husband
Gary Preston Gunter ’04 live in
Coppell, Tex.
Barton Harrison ’06 is director
of bands at Norphlet School
System in El Dorado, Ark.
In Memoriam
Ruby Ford Shoemaker BA ’54, MEd ’63
Condolences to Kay Denning DeVanie Wood BA
’73, whose son Glen Denning DeVanie died in the
line of duty on April 2, 2003. He served as a deputy
marshal for the city of Alexandria for six years. His
daughter Caroline is 4, and son Ethan is 3.
Robbie Johnson Brown BA ’56
Juanita Anthony Mears ’35
Carter Barton Ackel ’37
T.C. “Charles” Stewart ’37
Eleanor McKenzie Thompson ’37
Uriah W. “Pick” Pickens ’39
Lucy Helen Reardon ’41
Robert Keith Semmes, Jr. ’41
Naomi Harris Cooksey ’48
Robert P. McNabb BS ’53
Raymond Sweet BS ’53
Ida Gertrude Clark Rogers BA ’54
www.ulm.edu
ALUMNI
CLASS NOTES
Ralph Thomas Norman, Jr. BA ’59
Inez Scott Littlefield BA ’61
Curtis B. Bunn BS ’64
Joseph Guyton Powers ’67
Wanda Gail McGowen Akins BA ’71
Helen May Nelson BA ’71
Endowing
excellence
FACT:
ULM has nine
$1 million
endowed chairs
and 49 endowed
professorships
totaling
$21.8 million.
Including this
amount, the
ULM Foundation
manages
more than
$44.7 million.
■
Joseph Frank Stringer MS ’75
Preston L. Anderson MEd ’76
Deborah Glenn Lawrence Coats BS ’76
Arvella Cornelia McCoy Duncan Brown MME ’77
Teresa Walters Gentry ‘77
Emily Avery James BS ’79
Carol Cosselman Mouk BS ’80
Polivios “Polis” Potamitis ’93
Dawn Upshaw Rose BS ’04
University of Louisiana Monroe 31
POINT OF VIEW
Deena Burnett (B.B.A. ’85)
9/11 Widow; Author of “Fighting Back:
Living Life Beyond Ourselves”
I
n the ULM classroom, Deena Burnett was
It’s been five years since that tragedy, and
a quiet student. Today she has found her
it’s long past time to move on, she said. But
voice, traveling the country to speak on
it’s just as important to remember the
behalf of Sept. 11 victims’ families.
passengers’ actions on that
That voice kept a packed Brown Auditoday because they serve as lessons for
rium audience spellbound this fall as
everyone.
Deena recalled her last telephone
In the spirit of her new book,
conversations with her husband
Fighting Back: Living Life
“TOM
Tom Burnett, shortly before
Beyond Ourselves, Deena
he helped storm the
talked about the imporDIDN’T LIKE THE WORD
hijackers of United Airlines
tance of being a good
Flight 93, and ultimately
citizen, an everyday hero,
‘HERO.’ HE WAS JUST
kept the plane from
someone who does the
DOING THE
striking its apparent target
right thing at the right
of either the White House
time.
RIGHT THING.”
or the Capitol. The plane
“You and I have that
crashed in a remote Pennopportunity every day to
sylvania field.
affect those living around us.
She recalled a particularly
If Tom was here, and you asked
painful moment when she thought
him about his actions on Flight 93, he
her husband was on the plane that crashed
would laugh. He didn’t like the word ‘hero.’
into the Pentagon.
He was just doing the right thing and being
“I just started wailing - not just crying, I
a good citizen.”
was wailing. There were sounds coming out
Deena has her own record of good citizenof me that I did not recognize and I couldn’t
ship, having successfully spearheaded an
stop. My children started dancing around
effort to have the Flight 93 cockpit voice
me, thinking I was playing a game with
recording released in April 2002. She is
them. They were laughing and then they
currently the lead plaintiff in an unprecsaw the tears and they started crying. And
edented lawsuit to bankrupt terrorist
they climbed on my lap and still I couldn’t
organizations. Twice, she served as a
stop. The phone rang and it was Tom.
witness in the criminal trials of Al Qaeda
“I said, ‘Tom you’re OK. ‘No, I’m not,’ he
members in Europe.
said.” She shared the rest of her husband’s
words, including his last to Deena, “We’re
by Laura Harris
going to do something.”
32 University of Louisiana Monroe
www.ulm.edu
University of Louisiana Monroe
Office of Alumni Relations
700 University Avenue
Monroe, LA 71209-3210
A member of the University of Louisiana System • AA/EOE
www.ulm.edu